2011: End it stronger than I begin it

Do you ever say something that doesn't make sense one minute only for it to make perfect sense another? One great thing about Twitter is that those free-flowing thoughts are kept somewhere forever and you can go back and look at comments in hindsight.
Last night in a Twitter conversation with @irun2befit (Steena, who did a Q&A with me recently), I said this: "My goal for '11 is going to be to end it stronger than I begin it. While '10 has been awesome, this is not a good ending."

When I first said that, I didn't know what I meant. It sounded good, and what goal doesn't sound good? But since I typed that, I've thought a lot about next year and my goals and I'm starting to realize what it means.

For most of this year, I've stayed focused and have been more determined than ever with my goals. Part of that was keeping my eye on hitting 1,000 miles for the year. Had it not been for that goal, I might not have made it to the start line of the marathon, injury or not.

While miles are important to me, the end number doesn't define me. How I get to those miles is what is important. I didn't run 1,000 miles just to run 1,000 miles -- I think there's some misunderstanding from some people out there about that. But I documented that well enough the other day and throughout the year.

So, here's the deal. I'm going to start 2011 in a better place than I did 2010. Sort of. I'm going to weigh a decent amount less no matter what happens these last 10 days. I'm going to enter the year with an awesome base of 1,000 miles ran in the previous 12 months. The problem, though, is that I can't exactly hit the ground running in 2011.

Running is a big unknown for right now. So what I want to do in 2011 is be able to be at this point next year feeling stronger and more confident about running than I do right now. I think most runners want each year to be better than the previous, so even if I'm not on top of my game in January, there's no reason I can't be next November and December.

It's a really big picture way of thinking. I know that I can't rush back to running, and I know that there's a good possibility that I have to skip my usual winter training. I'm not giving up hope, but I know the reality of what I'm going through. I'm OK with that too. I also know that I could be running just fine in a few weeks and that the first three months of the year would just be a huge springboard for the rest of the year.

But the BIG goal is to not be sitting here a year from now not being able to run. In our "right now" society, it's hard to wrap my head around that goal, but sometimes we have to slow down and think about the rest of our lives.

Make sense? Maybe not. But it does to me, and that's all that matters.